The course is designed to study the features of the political structure of modern Russia. It contains both general information on the institutional, procedural and value components of the political system and public policy in Russia, as well as a description of the problems, contradictions and prospects for the political development of the country. The course contains three main modules: (1) the political system and regime in Russia: state institutions, political parties, civil society; (2) the public policy process in Russia: the mechanisms for elaborating, adopting and implementing policies and decisions; (3) directions and problems of economic and social policy in Russia: development based on stabilization. The course is aimed at those listeners who want to gain systematic knowledge of politics in Russia, as well as those who are focused on studying Russia's political development in complex and uncertain contexts. Studying the course students can choose the level of the course (general or in-depth), focusing on video material, information, discussions, forums, evaluations and interactive communication with teachers. The advanced level of the course development assumes the active participation of students in discussions, forums and project assignments. The overall mission of the course is to develop students' objective political knowledge about Russia and their ability to make critical scientific analysis and assessment.

Taught By

Kirill A. Neverov

Candidate of Political Sciences

Leonid V. Smorgunov

Doctor of Philosophy

Anna V. Volkova

Doctor of Political Science

Aleksandr S. Sherstobitov

Candidate of Political Science

Transcript

First topic is related to the Russian administrative reform and the system of building capacity of the state. Three stages of the Russian administrative reform can be identified. First stage, 2003-2005. This stage was aimed at the improvement of institutional and organizational capabilities of the executive. Second stage, 2006-2010 is characterized by the central emphasis on public administration effectiveness and quality of administrative activities. Third Stage, 2013-2020 concerns new quality of public policy governance and the development of public service liberty, and the cooperation between citizens and the public servants. With all these reforms, they are ambivalent and they are sometimes criticized for inconsistency. They played an important role as the base for the public administration improvement. Now, we shall discuss more concretely the general characteristics of these stages. The first stage is consist of three overlapping reform. Civil Service Reform 2002, Administrative Reform 2003 and Budget reform 2004. They have advanced the executive system in Russia to the next stage of administrative transformations. All these reforms are under the influence of the new public management ideology, and they are conducted by the liberals from the Ministry of Economic Development and Commerce of Russia. New public management ideas came to the Russia from the western experience of administrative reforms. This idea transfer and was not grounded in the real needs and conditions of Russian reforms, but a desire to implement new public management and practice of new public management reform created ideological atmosphere for further development of public administration in Russia. That is why the second stage of administrative transformations in Russia tried to combine new public management ways, public governance imperatives and new e-governance trends. It is necessary to mention that the administrative reform and the budgetary reform preceded the formation of the basic purposes and directions of public service reform. Administrative reform on this stage, had two parts. Operational part and the institutional part. Operational part of the reform, you can see this at the slide. This part of the reform was aimed on following tasks. At the beginning of 2000, we have in the executive of the Russian Federation, especially at the top of the executive, 5.6 thousands different functions. Some of them were surplus, some of them were duplicated. Forty-six percent of the functions needed to change. So the first aim of operational part, this is rejection of surplus functions in the executives. Second aim, this is improvement in the system of carrying out of the necessary functions. Third aim, this is coordination of the functions with the government structure. There was implemented three different institutions in the Russian executive. Ministries, services and agencies. Institutional part of the reform had following directions. Establishing preventive mechanism against new surplus functions, ensuring informational openness of the executive, and last, establishing and fixing of the standard for quality of public service. Second stage of administrative reform, 2006-2010, followed the first one and had some specific directions. You can see them on the slide There are some general directions of this reform. Increase in quality and accessibility of public services, limiting the state intervention in business activity, putting an end of the surplus state regulation, developing anti-corruption measures, increasing effectiveness of the executive activity. The concept of the second stage of administrative reform, essentially, does not change its general directions. But, this stage includes some significant additional components of the reforms in public administration. This is management based on result, standardization of the state services and elaboration of administration regulations, some anti-corruption measures, efficiency of interaction of the executive and a society, modernization of informational system inside public administration. The second stage of the reform, I would like to stress, is focused on the implementation of these policies in the subjects of the Russian Federation. The third stage of the reforms, 2012-2020. This stage is aimed on the improvement of administrative procedures and institutions of public administration in the country. The main attention is paid to the following carats. It is important to stress, improving the quality of strategic management in the country. The Council for Strategic Development under the President of the Russian Federation established in 2016 is to carry out this goal. A program method for managing various spheres of public policy is also introduced. Second, improving the system of assessing the effectiveness of public administration. So I would like to stress three main directions in these relations. Firstly, this is creating tools that allow information exchange between different executive authorities at all levels of the executive. We could say about formation of joint government in Russia. The second point is reforming the system of public councils, which helps to involve representatives of society in the discussion of decision and in the process of policy making. And third point, this is counteraction of corruption, identification and subsequent elimination of the causes and conditions of manifestations of the corruption in the country. Third general point, this is implementation of spheres and procedures for providing public service to the public, to the citizens, transition of public service into digital form. Fourth position is important also. Development of an open government, perfection of interactions between public authorities, citizens and businessmen. And I would like to stress new form for interaction that we can see in Russia of today. This is budget for citizens. And fifth position is reduction of excessive state regulations, especially for business to disarm the special procedures and norms of the Regulatory Impact Assessment being developed. Now, I would like to turn your attention to the corruption problems in Russia.

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